"It's really just a lot of the extra duties beyond the coaching and film watching," Schmitz said Thursday afternoon. "I love the game planning, film watching and working with kids — that's kind of my passion — but there's some things outside of that realm that were a struggle."

Schmitz declined to elaborate on the reasoning behind his decision, but said he would be open to the possibility of joining his successor's staff as an assistant. The University of Sioux Falls graduate, who teaches sixth-grade history and science, plans to continue teaching in the Huron school district and will also continue coaching high school pole vault.

"My wife and I love this town and where we're at," said Schmitz, whose wife is a second-grade English as a Second Language teacher. "She absolutely loves what she does and I love what I do. I don't see us moving, hopefully for an extremely long time."

In a press release announcing the resignation, Huron activities director Terry Rotert wrote that the school district appreciated the time and commitment Schmitz had given to the football program over the past four seasons. A search for his replacement will begin immediately.

Schmitz, who made coaching stops in Eagle Butte, Leola and Aberdeen Central, spent two seasons as Mike Postma's defensive line coach at Huron before replacing him as head coach in 2015. The Brandon native compiled a 15-28 record over his four seasons at the helm of the Tigers.

2018 was a breakout year for Huron, which defeated Harrisburg in the quarterfinals for its first playoff win in 16 years, then ended a 25-game losing streak to Yankton to reach the DakotaDome for the first time since 1992.

"I feel very fortunate, because you don't get that opportunity (to play in the Dome) very often," Schmitz said. "We had such a great group of kids with everything that it just worked."